Cleveland Wedding | Jackie + Matt | Associate Alyssa

I don't know any other way to describe Matt and Jackie's Cleveland wedding other than special. Their day was surrounded by sentimental details and family and friends that absolutely adore them. The weather was even calling for 100% chance of rain and we didn't deal with the rain once during the day. "Thanks Mamma Gantt, I know you were keeping those clouds away for us." - Jackie

Where to begin? The Dress! It was wore by Jackie's Grandma (on her dad's side) over 65 years ago and then again by Jackie's mom and again by Jackie. Jackie says that she has known she wanted to wear that dress since she was a little girl. "It was never really about the dress, it was always about the symbolism of family and strong women. In the end what made it even more special was that I didn’t realize until my Dad’s speech how much it also meant to him."

The church that Jackie and Matt were married in was a church that has been in Jackie's family as well. The bride's godfather is the pastor of the church and he married two of her aunts and uncles, a cousin, and most special her parents in that same church. Jackie's cousin even sang and played all of the music during their ceremony at the church.

The flowers were paper flowers made out of Disney and Broadway Musicals. Disney holds a special place in Matt’s family and Jackie grew up doing musical theater and watching it. Jackie hand picked all the music for each bouquet, boutonniere, and corsage.

Matt's mom passed away in 2002. To honor her, Matt, his dad, five sisters, and two brothers danced to “I Honestly Love you” by Olivia Newton-John. It was one of the most special moments of the night and there weren't many dry eyes in the room.

Matt and Jackie found out they had the same favorite movie when they first started dating so it was only fitting for them to make their grand entrance into the reception with the Jurassic Park theme song playing. It was probably my favorite introduction. Jackie even surprised everyone after the first dances with singing some songs to get the party started, it was too perfect. The light up dance floor was packed ALL NIGHT. Jackie and Matt even had cookies and late night pizza for all of those hardcore dancers.

"Being surrounded by family and friends from so many chapters of our lives. People who traveled both near and far and who made us the people we are today. We truly felt blessed. At one point during the reception I stood back at and just watched everyone and thought, We are really lucky to have all these people in our lives. And wow people look like they are really having fun.” - Jackie